I had a vision of my "dream office chair" in mind & this armchair came pretty close to what I was searching for with its gorgeous mauve velvet & mid-century-ish look. Yes, there is a chemical smell when you first open it, but it dissipated within several days & did not cause any issues (I'm fairly sensitive to smell too/aka easily have smell-induced headaches.) To make the legs better match the rest of the room, I sanded them down & did a light gray stain. In regards to the comfort level - it's definitely not a lounge chair. I purchased it specifically to be a desk chair & it is perfect for that (firm, yet comfortable, not easy to fall asleep in, etc.).

Also, like many others the box it came in was pretty trashed - like I don't know how this survived the trip trashed, but all-in-all it's a gorgeous chair that serves its purpose.